The Women in His Life
by GeekisChic88
Summary: “I see we have similar tastes.” The woman chuckled slightly, referring to their matching copies of Grissom’s book. GSR WIP
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own CSI or its Characters. Don't sue me.

Rating: G

A/N: So I have a sever case of writer's block with my other story, Metamorphosis. I thought of this yesterday in the shower, and I decided to write it down. This is going to be a short little thing. Enjoy!

The Women in His Life

"Fourteen A."

Upon finding her seat, Sara Sidle threw her duffle bag into the overhead compartment and made her way across the row. She sighed contently and rested her head against the back of the chair. Her visit to San Francisco to see her cousin had been rather boring, but pleasant, none the less.

_After being a CSI, it's hard to find something more exciting, _she thought to herself.

She was glad to be returning to Las Vegas, to her job, to the craziness that was the graveyard shift, to Greg's crazyantics and, of course, to her Grissom.

Sara shook her head and smiled. _Grissom_. She didn't understand why she was still drawn to the "Bug Man" after all these years and all that they had been through.

An old woman with silky gray hair tied back in a bun took a seat next to her. Although it was to be a quick flight, she was relieved at this sight. The last flight seemed to have lasted hours, being that the person next to her was a whining, nagging, seven-year-old. The constant "are we there yet?"s still rang inside her head.

Sara was occupied for a while, watching the ground crews scurry about around the plane. She soon realized, however, that the plane should have taken off twenty minutes ago.

With that, the captain came on the loudspeaker. "…so our flight will be delayed for another forty minutes or so. We apologize for the inconvenience."

There was a chorus of audible moans throughout the fuselage. Deciding that she had to find something else to do to keep herself busy, Sara rummaged through her carry-on bag that she had placed under the seat.

_Uh, left it in the duffle bag._ Referring to the book she was reading, Sara stood up to get into the aisle.

"Excuse me." The woman in the seat next to her didn't seem to notice she was trying to get through.

"Excuse me….Ma'am…um, excuse me." A little frustrated now, she lightly tapped the woman on the shoulder who immediately turned to face Sara

"Oh, I'm sorry dear!" The older woman said, with a slight twinkle in her clear blue eyes, letting Sara pass.

"It's alright," she stated, retrieved the book, and retuned to her seat. Sara opened to her book-marked page of Entomology in Forensic Science, a new work by none other than Dr. Gil Grissom, himself.

"Excuse me, miss," Sara turned to her neighbor who spoke, "did they make an announcement about this flight being late?"

"Yes," she replied, "A few minutes ago."

"Ah, thank you." The woman must have recognized the slightly puzzled look on Sara's face. "I didn't hear it… I'm deaf," she said nonchalantly.

"Oh….um…they said it would be another forty minutes or so." She wasn't sure if the deaf woman understood.

"Oh," the woman said, "I can read lips." Sara nodded. "Hmm… I guess I have no choice but to catch up on my reading." She reached down to pick up a book.

Sara got half way down the page before she was interrupted. "I see we have similar tastes." The woman chuckled slightly, referring to their matching copies of Grissom's book.

Sara smiled, not thinking anyone else would actually be interested in her boss' bugs. "Small world…"

"Are you an entomologist?" The deaf woman asked.

"No. Actually, I'm a crime scene investigator, but my supervisor is. He gave me a copy…told me to read it and learn." Sara flipped her thumb through the pages. "So, here I am, reading up on the life cycles of roaches. I guess I'm hoping to impress the boss when I get back to work," she half-joked, running a finger over the author's name.

The older woman stared at Sara for a brief moment and then spoke. "You're hoping to get a date," she stated simply. It wasn't a question. She just knew it.

Quite shocked at the woman's hypothesis, she answered, "yes…".

"You know what they say about losing a sense. The others get stronger…I can see it in your eyes. Oh don't worry, I won't tell anyone!" She smiled broadly.

Sara was starting to take back that fact that she had been glad to sit with the old woman. So much for a quiet trip.

Sara knew that her work had become her life, and because of that she didn't have many friends. Sure, a few acquaintances here and there, but no one she could trust to wake up early in the morning to talk about how Grissom touched her elbow that day. Chatting briefly about him to strangers once in a while made her feel a bit better. After the flight, this old lady would go home and knit or something until she forgot Sara's brief mention of her crush on her boss.

As hard as she tried, nothing she did was ever enough for Grissom. She had tried talking to him, tried dating another guy, tried to wear more revealing clothing…_maybe the way to this man's heart is through his bugs._

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she asked the woman, "What about you?"

"Well, I could care less about these little critters, but my son is an entomologist. He definitely did not get his bug-loving genes from me!" She let out a motherly laugh. "He's always writing these bug books, and I feel it's my duty as a mother to read my son's works, as boring as they may be." Loving this opportunity to brag a bit about her beloved son, she continued. "I hear he's very good at what he does. He's written so many of these."

"What's your son's name? I've read a lot of books; maybe I've read one by him."

"My Gil wrote _this_ one, actually." She gestured to the green hard covers that were lying on the trays in front of them.

_Your Gil! _Desperately trying to put two and two together, Sara could feel all the color drain from her face and her palms begin to sweat.

"Dr. Grissom is my son." Sara stared into her lap and blinked twice. "And judging by the expression on your face, he's also your supervisor." Sara brought her hand up to her forehead, sensing a headache coming on. "You must be the lovely Sara Sidle. My son has described you to me countless times." She looked over Sara for a moment. "He described you perfectly, actually."

Describing Sara as being speechless would have been an understatement.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I apologize for all the spelling/grammar errors in the last chapter and the ones to come. They are all mine, since I don't have a beta. I guess I rushed to post that last one. Thanks for the reviews! Please feel free to give criticism… this is only my second fanfic.

Chapter II

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are fourth in line for departure, so we'll be on our way shortly. Thank you for your patience."

Sara was now convinced that this was to be the longest flight ever imaginable.

"My name is Meredith Grissom. It's so nice to finally get to meet you. Gil has told me _so_ much about you!"

She swallowed hard. "He has?" She asked warily.

"Oh yes!" Mrs. Grissom exclaimed. "Why, when I read the letters he writes me, I often learn more about you than about my own son!" Meredith was smiling broadly, holding her hands together as if she were praying to give thanks to that fact that this meeting had occurred. Sara, on the other hand, had sunk down into her seat, now feeling smaller than an _Oligomyrmex yamatonis_(that's the smallest species of ant in China, by the way).

It took Mrs. Grissom a few moments to realize that Sara was not quite as overjoyed as she was. "What's the matter, dear?" She then answered her own question. "You're a bit embarrassed, aren't you?"

"Embarrassed? Me? I…"

"Dear, you don't have to hide your feelings for him from me! I know everything already."

"Mrs. Grissom…" Sara looked down at her feet, searching for words. "I, uh, this is just a little awkward for me and I don't think…"

Meredith interrupted calmly, "Sara, if you don't look at me when you speak, then I can't understand what you're saying."

Nervously pushing a curl behind her ear, she looked up at Mrs. Grissom. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "this is just kind of awkward for me."

Mrs. Grissom placed her hand on top of Sara's. "I know my son isn't exactly… adept at expressing his feelings..."

Sara snickered at the choice of words. _Adept? Well isn't that the understatement of the year…_

"…but I know_ he_ _loves you._" She signed the last phrase for added emphasis.

_Loves me? _She couldn't tell if the strange sensation in her stomach was from the 737 taking off or Mrs. Grissom's words. This was way too much for Sara to comprehend at one time – being stuck in an airplane with the mother of the love of her life and learning that he actually does care about her. She rested her head back against the seat and tried as hard as she possibly could to concentrate solely on the rumbling of the engines and not the million thoughts of Grissom running through her head.

After a few minutes, Mrs. Grissom interrupted Sara's meditation. She had taken her wallet out of her purse and was flipping through the pockets in search for something.

"This is little Gil with his first pet." She handed Sara a small black and white photograph of a bright smiling little boy with the most adorable curly brown locks, sitting underneath a tree. After taking in the sight, she turned to Mrs. Grissom could see her speak. Sara realized there was no reason not to befriend the woman. It wasn't like her relationship with Grissom could get any worse than it already was.

"He was adorable!" She almost squealed. _And he still is…_ "But I don't see a pet."

"Would you mind speaking a little slower, dear?"

"Oh, sure. I said I don't see a pet in the picture."

Mrs. Grissom chuckled. "Her name was Charlotte. She was a spider that made a web in our backyard. You can kind of see the web right here." She pointed to a spot between the tree and a small bush. "Gil was four. He and I were playing catch outside when the ball rolled over by the web. Now, most children would have been startled by the sight of a spider, but Gil was fascinated! He didn't want to play catch anymore. He spent the rest of the day watching the Charlotte spin her web and catch insects."

Sara smiled. "So that's how he became the 'bug man'."

Mrs. Grissom nodded. "The story doesn't stop there. Gil spent weeks and weeks watching that spider and caring for it. He tried to feed it, too! But one day the boy from across the street attacked the web with a stick and killed poor Charlotte. My son was devastated and he sulked and mourned for a whole week. That's when Gil decided to learn all he could about spiders and other bugs. When I asked, he told me that he wanted to be able to teach the other kids that they were not simply meant to be squished." She paused for a moment, and then looked away from Sara. "The night before Gil's father left, he went out and bought him his first pet tarantula. I wasn't very happy at all with his choice in pets, but at least he had someone to talk to. Within a year or so I had gone deaf."

There was more silence for a while. Sara didn't know what to say about the story.

Going through her wallet again, Mrs. Grissom continued. "This one's from his first year in the little league." She handed Sara a picture of a slightly older Gil in a baseball uniform.

"Grissom played sports?"

"Why yes, and he was quite good, actually… played center field."

"Hmm, I would never have guessed."

"But I bet you could have guessed why his coaches often scolded him. While sitting in the dugout he'd read entomology textbooks. Gil used to forget to get up to bat!"

They both laughed for quite some time. After the laughter subsided, Sara let out a content sigh. _Maybe this will be a nice flight…_

"Did he ever tell you about his first crush?"

"No…"

"Well! Her name was Caroline and they were in the same second grade class…"

* * *

Grissom sat impatiently outside gate seven, having left the lab early to pick up his mother and spend the rest of the day with her. Grissom didn't mind leaving work to be with his mother…very much, anyway. She didn't come to Vegas very often and he hadn't taken a day off in months. What he did mind was the fact that her plane was late, and he could have spent the now wasted time making good progress on the double homicide he had been working on.

"Now arriving at gate seven, Delta Flight 5814 from San Francisco."

_Well it's about time._

Grissom closed his forensic journal, looked at his watch and stood up to wait for his Mother. Within a few minutes he heard familiar laughter.

_Mom? _Grissom heard his mother laughing…hysterically. He was baffled, since Mrs. Grissom had always been a very quiet woman. _What could possibly be so funny?_ His mother wasn't one to make small talk with anyone, especiallybecause of her disability. Finally he spotted her coming through the gate, laughing with a young brunette woman who looked a lot like…

_Sara?_

Grissom removed his glasses quickly to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. He knew that laugh. He used to hear it all the time, before things became more complicated with their relationship, or lack thereof.

"Grissom!" The brunette shouted and waved.

There he stood, watching the women in his life.

* * *

To be continued…. 


End file.
